Global321

For those interested in going to Thailand, I thought it would be good to have a thread specifically about the Phuket Plan; Thailand's first attempt at opening Thailand to most tourists. Hopefully, we can use this thread to provide details as they come out.

The facts:
Thailand's Minister of Tourism Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said the country is aiming to allow foreign tourists to enter the country through a program dubbed "Safe and Sealed."
Tourists will be permitted to fly into Phuket -- Thailand's largest island -- and will need to quarantine in a designated resort for 14 days.
Phiphat cited popular Patong Beach as an example of an area where this could work.
Special one-kilometer zones consisting of three-to-four resorts could be set up there, allowing quarantined tourists to spend time on the beach -- so long as they stay in their designated area.
Travelers will need to get tested for Covid-19 at the beginning and end of their quarantine period. Then, they will be free to travel on the island.

Global321

Emirates says they have permission to fly to Thailand as of today,

Top of head questions for the Phuket Plan...
Do you have to stay 14 days? (i.e. can you leave Thailand after 7 days?)
During the first 14 days, are you required to stay in your hotel room or the 1 km zone around your hotel?

transpac

The Emirates announcement has been deflated. They may have begun selling tickets. They are and have been, flying into/through BKK for a while. Passengers can fly out assuming they meet EK's requirements. They cannot bring passengers into Thailand unless said passengers are repats and have been approved by the government. I don't recall any EK repat flights but there could well be some. There are many, many, many incoming and outgoing flights. This month there will be at least 10 repat flights. The TG flights from LHR were snapped up in 4 minutes.

This "plan" is just one of ~ 30 or so, most are just ideas someone's idiot nephew came up with. So no one thought through anything past the initial idea. I would think they'd want to keep you at least 14 days, hopefully, longer. No mention of the visa, insurance, tracking requirements, suspect those will be worked out the day before?

Yes, during the 14 day quarantine period, "tourists" should stay in the exercise yard.

ekgoldmember

i live and work in the tourism industry here in bangkok. Emirates started flying yesterday but only repat flights are allowed to thailand organised through the Thai Embassy or consulate. Emirates have been flying every day to Bangkok but this is refuel as on way to Auckland. They must be losing a big amount of cash flying in empty. They can however fly passengers out.

With Phuket opening my company is now in phuket with the officials and they have some good ideas to re open. After time with them you have mo idea how determined they are to open up the tourism. The 14 days is option for AI hotels which run well in many countries around the world.

adenzin7

why would I fly to Phuket to stay 14 days locked up? No ping-pong shows? No way.

ekgoldmember

why don’t you wait for official announcements and not speculation.
guests that do 14 days all inclusive in the hotels all over the world love the concept.

magXY

I think this is aimed at the retired population of Northern Europe and similar, people who want to spend the winter months in warmer Thailand.
You spend your quarantine in semi-liberty in Phuket and then are free to spend the following months as you wish.
This plan is not for the average tourist... but it might work for several thousand europeans and the like.
I guess it could work as a first approach to reopening to foreigners.

ekgoldmember

you are absolutely right. You will have many Europeans who will pay for 30 days to move to phuket for the winter months. After today’s meeting they will also include the extra visa needed on arrival. They are also looking at all budget of hotels here in Phuket. Not just the 5 star properties but a real mixture. Hotels will include 3 meals a day similar to an all inclusive concept. Clients can also freely move around the hotel and also beach access if hotel on the beach. For example Centara Karon hotel.
The officials here have been amazing so far and they need the tourists back so this is for the short term.

Global321

The challenge so far - for those far away - is the specifics. The "within 1km" of the hotel/resort was not very specific as to when it started. Immediately? Once on the beach, there would be no real way to keep people to just the hotel, unless you are talking about the Marriott or Le Meridian where the beach is locked in. And there was also talk of groups of 3-4 resorts in "pods". All very interesting, just short on details.

After 14 days, they talk of going anywhere on the Island, so it implies the 1km is sooner than 14 days.

The other plan - or the addition to this plan - was the 9-month visa. However, with most tourists from Europe coming for 2 weeks to 30 days, this does not seem like it would appeal to many.

It could very well be they only want a small group to start; a test of how well it will work and the impact on local cases. (They will go up, the question is by how much.)

transpac

Exactly why this is silly, but I do understand the pressure.

Thailand's tourism model relies on average/below average tourists in massive volume to survive.

Let's say this "seal-a meal' plan works, then what? What's the next plan? More Nordic snow-birds?

Every day the government publishes COVID-19 data, and they crow about no locally transmitted cases. But they do highlight the new cases identified in quarantine, from those who recently returned. In the past few days, many of these have been foreigners - yesterday's number was eight, four Americans from the U.S., and four Thais (U.S., Japan, Australia).

What is the protocol if one person tests positive in Phuket? Quarantine just that person? Everyone inside the Dome? I predict that if this plan moves forward, no one will test positive.

What visa will be required? What insurance will be required?

justforfun

It's a pretty extreme and limited plan, but I welcome it as a first step towards reopening. I miss Thailand dearly.

ft101

The flight is EK384/385 and did not start yesterday but has been running for several weeks. It goes on to HKG and may be carrying passengers bound for there too. Similar transit flights are available with other airlines and at least one report in the Covid thread details a passenger being allowed to disembark to go to ASQ at BKK.

There was a NZ bound flight landing (that returned to Dubai through Brisbane I think) but that had an EK4** number and is now going via KUL IIRC.

Global321

~69 million total population
~15 million under age 18 (11 million 0-14, another 3-4 million from the 10 million age 15-25)
~ 3 million 75 and above (65+ is 8 million
~leaves 51 million workers
~27 million tourism-related around 50% unemployment from tourism (BoT)

That does not include ancillary jobs... construction from money from farang, support to families from farangs, money sent home from work.
At what point does Thailand reopen the borders more broadly, accepting there will be outbreaks and deaths?

Like everyone I have a 'selfish' motivation - I want to go back. But, also from a caring point of view, Thai people are hurting financially real bad in Thailand. Opening the borders is the only real solution that Thailand has to bring the economy back.
I would not want to make that call, but someone will. x lives lost for x GDP.

transpac

You don't need to convince anyone here, we have no authority, just a handful of generals. Oh, and some of those 69 million citizens.

There are ~ 2 million foreign workers (legal) maybe another 3 ~ 4 million illegal, so plenty of jobs for Thais.


UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES BETTER THAN EXPECTED: LABOUR MINISTER

BANGKOK (Xinhua) — Thailand’s Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin on Friday said in a press briefing that the total number of unemployed people in Thailand was at around 2 to 3 million, instead of 7 to 8 million previously predicted.

The National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) did the calculation, it cannot be wrong, as the latter is Thailand’s economic planner, said Suchart.

The labour minister said that the COVID-19 pandemic had created fear amongst the Thai workforce and businesses.

https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/...y%20predicted.

SQTraveller

I'd be interested to see how they enforce these quarantine areas. I would wager that certain group would be making every attempt to break out, because of the quarantine.

In Singapore they bar you from re-entering for break safe distancing, would Thailand do the same?